There You Are
by SweetlyVague
Summary: AU: The Nate/Shaun storyline doesn't exist and the Sole Survivor is just your average girl awaking from cryostasis- discovered by MacCready. With the help of her new friend, she hopes she can piece together the mystery of her past and find a way to survive a world gone mad. Eventual Mac/Survivor.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, everyone!**

 **I've been playing Fallout 4 again recently and got the itch to write a story after some ideas started swirling around in my head. I've always been a little bitter at the lack of real choice in your characters backstory and how you're mostly forced to follow the storyline if you wanted to realistically roleplay- so this is my take on a Fallout 4 world without the search for Shaun. Plus, I've got the hugest crush on MacCready and wanted to try my hand at a romance story involving him.**

 **I'm being as lore friendly as possible with some added twists and I'll be writing the canon character as in character as I can!**

1.

 _Manual override i nitiated. Cryogenic stasis suspended._

For the vault dweller there was nothing and then there was light.

The metal capsule she'd been encased in opened with a hiss and she immediately gasped for air, her eyes snapping open and staring upwards at the near blinding florecent lights. Everything was so grey. She realized suddenly how cold she was, her entire body shaking uncontrollably as her arms wrapped around herself. Why was it so damn cold in there? Her gaze trailed down and she locked eyes with someone standing there in front of her. Blue eyes, maybe green? She couldn't tell under the terrible lighting. If she wasn't mistaken, those eyes looked just as shocked as she felt.

"Holy sh-.. crap.." Was the last thing she heard before everything faded again, the image of the man in brown and green pulling farther and farther away, his arms reaching for her.

There was nothing again- for awhile, anyways.

"Hey...ugh, come on... HEY!" She shot upright from her laying postion on the floor, the voice bringing her back from unsonsciousness with a start. Everything seemed so bright and her eyes took a moment to focus, unable to make out much of anything but colours until they slowly sharpened. She wasn't in the capsule anymore, that was for sure, and beyond that she was clueless.

"Are you alright?" The man crouched next to her asked, leaning in to peer at her a little closer. Blinking up at him, she met those eyes again and recognized that whoever he was, he was definitely the same figure she saw when she'd first woken in that freezing tube.

"Okay, now you're just being weird about it." He stood up, extending a hand down to her, "Come on, let's at least get you up."

Nodding curtly, she reached up and grabbed his hand, noting how rough his palm felt and how small her hand felt in comparison to his. He pulled her up to her feet in a single pull and she stumbled forward. Her almost collapsed beneath her and she grabbed for the window sill to her right. The sill was so warm. Momentarily, she felt relief from the sensation- it was so different from the unbearable chill she felt when she first woke. She tilted her head up towards the sun, relishing in the heat. Letting out a long breath, she felt balanced enough to take a look around where she stood. That relief she felt? Gone. They were in a room that looked like it had seen much better days- parts of the walls missing, flooring peeled away, piles of debris scattered in the corners.

"Where..?" She turned to the man and stepped back quickly, her back towards the open window, "Where are we?"

He seemed to pick up on her sudden fear, raising his hands up with his palms out to her, "Hey, hey. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." Looking at her intently, as if to catch every one of her movements, he took a long stride back, "See?"

Unwilling to move away from the window, she looked him up and down, assessing him and her situation. He had brown hair tucked under what she figured was a military cap and was clad in a long brown jacket overtop some sort of military green outfit. Her eyes trailed further down and she looked ready to climb out the window, "Why do you have bullets strapped to you?!"

His eyes dropped instantly to the bullets in question and he sighed as if he had forgotten they were there, "They're for my rifle?" he said to her as if it were obvious, adding, "They're not for you if that makes you feel any better?"

He had his answer when she turned quickly and all but jumped out the ground level window, struggling to make it out and back on to her feet. She had to get away. She didn't know why, but she had to. Her legs were barely cooperating and she was thrilled when she managed to make it to a staggering run. She was heading down the street of some kind of suburb- one that had seen better days. The grass was dead, most of the houses she could see were practically demolished, and the cars were... why were they so rusted?

Her thoughts were cut off as she screamed, the mans arms wrapping tightly around her from behind, stopping her run dead. She couldn't move her arms at all because he had them pinned to her sides so she buckled her legs to try and throw him off balance. He didn't budge whatsoever and her legs kicked around- he was surprisingly strong.

"Will you stop?!" He grunted, refusing to relinquish his hold. There was a long breath and he said slower, softer, "Please, just stop. Calm down. Let me explain. Please."

The girl's attempts at escaping slowed and he carefully released her from his hold. There was something in his voice that made her want to believe he didn't mean her any harm. And at this point- if he was going to kill her, he was going to kill her. Hesitating for a long moment, she turned around to face him. She tugged at the sleeves of the blue jumpsuit she wore, taking a breath and looking up at the man. He was a good bit taller than her 5 foot 3 frame, his expression shadowed from the sunshine behind him. She wasn't certain but she thought she saw him flash a small grin as he spoke, "We good?"

"You wanted to explain? Please do." She was attempting to look less terrified than she was, her arms crossing over her chest.

"Alright.." He said, his tone ever so exasperated, "Look. The names MacCready and I found you down there in that vault stuffed in a fridge. I don't think anybody else down there survived. Figured I was doing you a favour by not leaving you in that graveyard."

MacCready continue, but she stopped hearing what he was saying. Her mind started going a mile a minute, trying to understand what he'd just said to her. Vault? Survived? Graveyard? Nothing he said made any sense.

His voice continued, whatever he was talking about coming to a close, "...so, what's your story? Why were you in there?"

Swallowing the lump forming in her throat, she tried to speak from her mouth that had gone instantly dry, "I..." She closed her eyes hard and tried with all her might to pick up anything from the darkness in her mind, "I don't know."

MacCready's brow furrowed, "Alright. Let's start small. What's your name?"

She supressed the urge to cry right then and there, looking up at him as if praying he had the answers she needed, "I don't know.


	2. Chapter 2

MacCready handed the girl a can of purified water as he walked by, leaving her to her thoughts while he returned to his rucksack to remove the last of the contents they'd found up the road at Sanctuary Hills. She was nervous leaving the safety of their camp, but equally anxious to take a look around and stretch her legs. They'd returned just before the noonday heat was at its worst and she planted herself in her usual spot on the floor with her back against a wall, feeling dejected at her second, more thorough look at the state of things. Lowering himself to the floor across from her, MacCready added a few boxes of ammo to the pile between them, as well as some assorted cans of food.

"I'm surprised there was this much ammo up there. It doesn't seem like anyone's been there for awhile." He said this while digging around his pocket for a cigarette, popping it between his lips and lighting it with his new found flip lighter.

She nodded in agreement, "Not surprised; 90% of it didn't seem livable."

He chuckled and exhaled smoke without removing the cigarette from his mouth, even managing to speak, "You think? Boy, you're gonna be fu-.. really shocked to see where people bunker down."

They'd been staying at the Red Rocket truck stop for the better part of a week while the girl tried to get her bearings. It was probably strange dealing with somebody who had zero clue about the world around her, but he was patient with her. If anything, she was grateful that he had so much to teach her because without a single memory of anything before she awoke, it's not like they had a lot of back and forth discovering to do about one another. MacCready didn't seem pressed to say much about himself other than the bare minimum. He'd told her, rather carefully on the day he found her, that he was a mercenary for hire and it was clear he didn't want to scare her any more than she already was with that news. "Explains the bullets, though, right?" he had said with a grin, which prompted a small laugh from her.

The girl wrinkled her nose at the thought of the living conditions of the wasteland, the stomach turning mental images cut off as a cold nose touched the side of her face, followed by a few laps of a rough tongue. The dog, who they creatively named Dogmeat, licked her face a few more times and then stretched out next to her. Dogmeat had come wandering out of the truck stop as MacReady and her approached without even a trace of aggression. It was clear he no longer had an owner and she had decided right there that he was staying with them. She thought to herself that she was clearly an animal lover and considered that one win for her search of who she was. Unfortunately, it was the only moment of clarity she had since she'd entered this new and strange world.

When she tentatively asked why everything was so... dreary, MacCready briefly explained to her how the "Great War" had caused the end of humanity as it was known a long time ago- long enough that not a lot of people could really tell you exactly what had happened. As far as he knew, the vaults were created as shelters from the inevitable war and that there were generations of people who had lived without ever leaving the safety of their underground bunkers. Others weren't so lucky and were stuck in the wasteland, born and raised, to fend for themselves. She'd gotten overwhelmed by the information and he left it at that. She decided that she'd ask for all the details eventually, but for now she couldn't quite wrap her head around everything that was happening. First she woke up in a frozen tube, then she had the heavy realization that she had no idea who she was, and as if that wasn't bad enough it was followed by the bombshell that the world had basically ended at some point.

Scratching the top of Dogmeat's head, she suddenly had a thought, "The vault- do you think we can go back down there?"

MacCready looked perplexed, grinding the last of his cigarette on the floor, "Why would you want to? It was depressing as heck."

She shrugged, "I don't know who I am- but what we both know is that I was frozen by ummm Vault-Tec? I don't know why they did it or how I got there..." her voice trailed while she put together her thoughts, "Maybe they have files? You said there were a lot of people down there- they had to have kept track of them, right?"

"Huh." Her companion nodded, "It's worth a look. From what I saw when I was in there digging around for scrap, most if not all of the terminals were pretty messed up. They might have paper copies for backup?"

It was decided- he would escort her back after they had lunch. Although their canine companion whined as if to argue while they readied themselves to leave, she reassured Dogmeat that they'd be back soon.

MacCready generally had a sarcastic, light hearted way of speaking, but as they were stepping off the property line of the Red Rocket, he glanced back at her and said seriously, "Stay close behind me, alright? If I say duck, duck. If I say run, run." When she nodded, he nodded back and took his rifle off his back, holding it across his pelvis at the ready. She knew that he'd only grazed the surface about the wasteland and she wondered just how much worse it could be out there if he was wandering around with a high powered gun.

The girl knew she'd find out eventually- but she didn't know if she wanted to. 


	3. Chapter 3

Depressing "as heck" didn't cover it.

Peeking out from behind MacCready, the girl glanced around the vault and frowned. Maybe the folks who stayed in vaults their whole life weren't as lucky as she assumed. Most everything was made of buffed metal, the only colours she noted being muted blues, burnt orange and sometimes a muddy green. She had no other description of the space other than "eerie". Even with people roaming around and something to fill the silence, she couldn't imagine the vault ever feeling like home.

Skeletons were littered around the vault like rag dolls- some were wearing the same jumpsuit as her, while others were wearing lab coats and their splayed corpses set some disturbing scenes. One skeleton still had an arm outstretched towards a handgun on the floor just out of its reach, another was hanging over a desk with a very clear bullet hole through the back of its head. Her stomach was knotted, but she wondered why she didn't feel more scared. Maybe it was because it all still seemed too outlandish to be real.

"There's a few rooms we can search through that I remember seeing filing cabinets in." MacCready spoke above a whisper, and below his usual volume, eyes forward and practically unblinking, "I only had to deal with a few roaches before I found you. In the grand scheme that ain't so bad, but they can still be deadly. Stay on your toes."

"Roaches...?" She started to inquire about what he could possibly mean when he said roaches could be deadly and her words got caught in her throat. The skittering noise came first, and then she saw an impossibly large cockroach squeeze itself out from under a collapsed desk and beeline directly to them. She tugged hard at the back of MacCready's jacket and he turned his head to look at the insect coming at them. Fluidly, he turned around and used his arm to move her back behind him. In the same motion, he used his other arm to bring down the butt of his rifle directly onto the shell of the Radroach. She had placed herself directly behind him so she didn't have to see what happened, but she definitely heard it. A disgusting crack followed by a shrill shriek.

Not wanting to see the aftermath, she turned around and waited for MacCready to take the lead again, "Giant roaches? What the hell?"

Their search of the rooms he'd mentioned was relatively fruitless aside from some more ammo, a Stimpak and another handgun that MacCready grabbed and holstered, "I'm gonna have to teach you to use one of these- but for now just stick close. I don't need an accidental bullet to the back of the head." His comment was met with her giving him the side eye, knowing she had no idea now to use a gun but still feeling a little insulted.

Sighing, she leaned against a cabinet while trying to rack her brain for another solution. There had to be at least _something_ in the vault to give her at least one goddamn answer. MacCready closed a desk drawer and mirrored her sigh, "Nothing."

Determination rose up in the girl's chest and she stormed out of the office they were in; if she didn't do this fast she would lose her nerve. MacCready spun around and followed after her , "Hey! What are you doing?"

She'd gotten to a speed just below a run, following the signs bolted to the walls to lead her to the one place she was certain she didn't want to be in the vault. The sounds of her companion's boots behind her helped her feel less scared, but her heart was racing.

Just a bit further.

Her speed didn't help her cross the threshold of the doorway she came to, her feet stopping without her even thinking about it. Looking into the room gave her chills, her stomach knotting worse as she looked at the two rows of identical pods that lined the walls of the room. She didn't have any recollection of this place away from knowing that this was where she woke and yet she felt sick looking at it. Grief was the closest emotion she could name to describe how she felt.

MacCready said nothing and let her take her time entering the room- one little step at a time. She looked into one of the pods and raised her hand to her mouth in shock. In that moment she realized what he had meant when he said that nobody else had survived- and he wasn't talking about the skeletons. Hurrying down the corridor, she saw that every single pod had someone in it. Bodies slumped, hands clutching at throats... they were all frozen in their last moments. She touched her shaking hand against the cold glass, her eyes brimming with tears. Why did any of this happen? Why would Vault-Tec do this?

"Quinn."

Using the back of her hands to wipe at her eyes, she turned to look at MacCready. He was holding a clipboard attached to the side of some sort of lever by the empty pod and repeated, "Quinn."

Her heart jumped in her chest and she quickly moved over to him, her eyes scanning the page on the clipboard. Most of the ink of the sheet had bled, more information than not entirely illegible.

 _ **Date of Cryo(illegible)sis:**_ _October 23, 20(illegible)_  
 _ **Tes(illegible) Subject's Age:**_ _21_  
 _ **Test (illegible)ect's Medi(illegible)**_  
 _ **Test Subje(illegible)al Name:**_ _Quinn Lee H(illegible)in_

She took the clipboard from MacCready's hands and stared at it for God knows how long. Quinn Lee H. It didn't ring a bell to her, but that didn't matter. All that mattered to her was that she had a name. She was someone, anyone.

Barely containing the urge to cry, Quinn looked up at MacCready who was leaning against a pod with his arms casually crossed, what was becoming his trademark grin on his face, "Nice to meet you, Quinn." 


End file.
